1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a cooling apparatus and more particularly, to a cooling apparatus for a power converter, which includes a vortex tube to allow the cooling apparatus to cool the power converter stably.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a power converter, an apparatus such as an inverter for motor drive, a solar inverter, an electrical energy storage (EES) or the like, which is used in the industrial field, generates heat when it is driven.
Since the heat generated when the power converter is driven causes performance deterioration, reduced life, operation stop and the like of the apparatus, there is a consistent need for development of a system for cooling the apparatus with high efficiency.
Accordingly, a variety of cooling apparatuses for cooling the power converter has been proposed. A cooling apparatus may be classified into an air blowing type and a water cooling type.
The air blowing type is a method of using a fan to forcedly dissipate heat generated from a power converter, which is also referred to as a forced air cooling technique. The air blowing type is a technique for driving the fan to circulate air between cooling fins so as to maintain the power converter at a proper temperature.
However, the existing air blowing type cooling apparatus has a restriction in installation environments since there is a possibility that cooling efficiency is decreased depending on circumstances and arc is generated due to dusts.
In addition, the existing air blowing type cooling apparatus has to replace the fan periodically depending on drive time and environments of the fan. However, this incurs maintenance costs for stoppage and replacement of an inverter connection product group when the fan is replaced.
In addition, the existing air blowing type cooling apparatus has a limitation in application to a variety of industries requiring explosion-proof capability since it is exposed in the air.
Further, since the existing air blowing type cooling apparatus requires a number of cooling fins for appropriate cooling, there is a difficulty in compactness and light-weighting of the power converter due to a restriction on weight and volume of the cooling fins.